Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman did tell us in 2023 that the 8-½-year union contract he signed with the Police Benevolent Association was generous with a 15% increase over the course of the contract and retroactive raises and lump-sum bonuses.

“I believe this agreement keeps our Police Department at the highest levels of salary in the nation, but at the same time has provisions that enhance the safety of our communities and guards the taxpayers’ money,” Blakeman said at the time.

And, as Blakeman indicated, the contract was consistent with a decades-long practice of rewarding law enforcement with contracts that offered high pay and attractive retirement plans.

So it should not come as much of a surprise that the county paid out nearly $75 million more to its employees in 2023 compared with the year before – the largest year-to-year increase in a decade, according to an analysis by Newsday.

Not surprisingly, higher police salaries drove the 7.1% increase in Nassau’s spending on employees, rising from $505.5 million in 2022 to $561.2 million in 2023 – a $55.7 million increase. The total represents nearly 75% of the total increase in employee spending.

This raises several questions in a county whose finances have been historically troubled and under state supervision since Nassau nearly went bankrupt in 2000.

The first question is whether the high compensation is worth it.

Nassau’s crime rate has been consistently low for many years, and during County Executive Laura Curran’s administration 2018-2021, U.S. News & World Report twice rated the county the safest in the United States.

In opposing Curran for county executive in 2021, Blakeman questioned U.S. News & World Report’s methodology. But, then again, he was a candidate for office.

Blakeman and his fellow Republican county candidates swept into office in that election, campaigning on rising crime rates in New York that they blamed on bail reforms. They also called for more police.

County voters did not directly vote for more police in that election.

But despite frequent complaints about Nassau’s high taxes and high cost of living, county voters have regularly shown a willingness to spend generously on things they value, beginning with education.

This year was no different. Voters went to the polls across Nassau to approve school budgets that called for some of the highest property tax rates in the state for school districts that rank among the best in New York.

It is true that many Nassau residents don’t feel the actual cost of spending on schools or the police due to a dysfunctional tax assessment system.

Under this system, those who challenge their property tax assessments pay less than those who don’t.

The true cost of Nassau’s policing may also be underestimated by the county’s lack of transparency in reporting settlements made by people who have submitted police misconduct complaints.

Unlike New York City, Nassau police investigate complaints against fellow officers, do not report them when complaints have been made and shield settlements under non-disclosure agreements.

This does a disservice to the vast majority of Nassau police who do their jobs the right way.

And it deprives taxpayers who pay them well to evaluate if they are truly getting their money’s worth.

More transparency is needed for many reasons. Letting taxpayers determine the worth of police pay is one of them.